With the advent of an information-based society and the explosion of internet users, the information available to the ordinary individual has increased dramatically over the last decade. Online maps are commonly used to find particular locations, as well as to determine the route with the shortest distance to a location. Some sites use additional information such as the posted speed limit to provide the route taking the least amount of time for the vehicle to traverse. However, this latter information may be of little value to public service providers (e.g., ambulance, fire, police) when a fast response is desired as their vehicles are able to ignore the speed limits.
Public service response vehicles and personnel are in fact usually dispatched to locations where their presence is urgently needed by a dispatcher (i.e., person at a central location); and in such situations response time is often critical. In such situations, the dispatcher (or individual in the public service vehicle) typically uses one or more sources of information to select the most effective set of roads for the vehicle or personnel to travel. This information mirrors that available online, e.g., the route having the shortest distance to traverse, and thus, presumably the fastest route for the vehicle. However, the information used to determine the shortest vehicular distance often lacks information that can be used to make a better decision and thus enable the vehicle or personnel to arrive at the desired destination sooner.
Moreover, in certain situations, such as crime scenes in which the criminal activity is ongoing, it may not be desirable for the public service vehicle to arrive at the destination indicated by the dispatcher. In these situations, it may instead be desirable for the vehicle to arrive in a nearby location. There is, at present, no mechanism exists in such situations for determining better positioning.